WCO Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P) was established in September 2004 as the first ROCB aiming at coordinating and improving the Customs capacity building activities in line with the WCO’s regionalization approach.

Environment surrounding the Customs operation is very diverse and evolving consistently. Stage of Customs modernization varies from one WCO Member administration to another. Administration’s priority varies as well. In tandem with the development in ICT, expansion of global trading system as well as continued changes in business practices for international transactions of the goods, Customs administrations in the Asia/Pacific region are striving for its reform and modernization to provide due dividends accrued to the nations. Region’s capacity building activities conducted by the ROCB A/P are categorized based on 4 pillars of its objectives, namely: (i) To support the implementation of the WCO Conventions, instruments and tools; (ii) To further enhance collaboration with development partners; (iii) To improve needs analysis, planning, delivery and management of regional capacity building activities; and (iv) To enhance communication and information sharing among Members administrations.

This website is to provide some of the snapshots on the Customs capacity building activities in the Asia/Pacific region and continue communication with the regional Member and development partners.

Above activities cannot be pursued by the ROCB A/P alone and, in fact, it requires the region’s commitment and cooperation with great leadership of the Regional Vice Chair and the support from the Regional Training Centers as well as the region’s experts in various domains. In this regard, the ROCB A/P would like to call for continued commitment and support of these stakeholders. At the same time, the ROCB A/P expresses its sincere appreciation to the donor administrations and development partners for generous funding for these capacity building activities coordinated by the ROCB A/P.

The WCO National Workshop for Indonesia Customs on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy was held on 11-15 September 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia under the sponsorship of the Japan Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF/Japan) and a total of 21 Custom officers in charge of border enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) participated in the workshop.

At the invitation of the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO A/P), Mr Tong hua, attended the 29th Administrative Meeting for National Contact Points of RILO A/P, which was held in 5-7 September 2017 in Chongqing, China, and introduced ROCB A/P’s Capacity Building efforts in supporting Customs Administrations, in particular the close collaboration between RILO A/P and ROCB A/P for jointly organizing high-class Capacity Building activities in the A/P region

Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum (APTFF) 2017 and its side events, i.e. a series of trade facilitation-related workshops, were held on 5-6 September 2017 and 7 September 2017 respectively in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, by UNESCAP and ADB, in cooperation with Indonesia Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs.

At the invitation of APEC, Ms. Saori Nojima, Project Manager of the ROCB A/P, attended the workshop on Trademark Determination in a Border Enforcement Context on 24th August 2017 in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

At the invitation from the World Bank Group, Trade & Competitiveness of Myanmar, Dr.Tong hua, Program Manager of the ROCB A/P, attended the Myanmar Customs Leadership Course held on 22 and 23 August 2017 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, as a guest speaker.

Mr. Kazunari Igarashi, Head of the ROCB A/P, and his colleagues paid a courtesy call to newly appointed Director of Thai Customs Academy, Ms. Santanee Phairattanakorn, at her office on 19 September 2017 to present a flower bouquet and compliments.

On the occasion of field study visit to Thailand, Mr. Kyaw Htin, Director General of Myanmar Customs Department, accompanied by his Assistant Directors as well as representatives from relevant authorities and JICA experts, made a courtesy call at the ROCB A/P on 30 August 2017.

5 Azerbaijan officers including the Major-General, Mr. Baba Salayev, the Head of the Main Office for Combating Offenses in the Customs sphere, State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan and 5 Uzbekistan officers including Mr. Oybek Zayniddinov, the Head of the Main Department of Customs Control, State Customs Committee of Uzbekistan visited the ROCB A/P together on 17 May 2017 during the UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme Study Visit in Thailand.